


Sacrifice

by iceyly



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 13:12:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4061305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iceyly/pseuds/iceyly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabble – At last, after eight years Jellal awakens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sacrifice

Everything hurts.

His body, from the impressive number of hits landed by one very enraged Dragon Slayer that he may or may not have underestimated just a bit too much and one sword swipe by the girl – _woman_  – that has grown so much stronger than he would have ever thought possible.

His soul because though he remembers it all, all he has done, all he has done it for… for all that he remembers his reasoning… none of it makes sense anymore and if he wasn’t so exhausted he’d feel sick to his stomach.

His heart, because-

The ground beneath (or around) him is hard and rumbling and there is no real telling if he is awake or asleep, already dead or just still alive, but even so there is awareness, there is regret, so much of it. There has to be, because so much has gone wrong, starting with his treatment of Erza eight years past, ending with the death of Shimon that he has caused not even an hour ago and just thinking of it brings about horror and despair and he wishes he didn’t know how it all could have gone so wrong.

But he  _does_ , because for all that that voice had whispered, for all that he had listened, it was his own will that built the tower, that betrayed his friends, that destroyed the council, that hurt Erza, that mocked Natsu, that killed Shimon.

 _(Or, wasn’t it? It doesn’t make_ sense _anymore…)_

It won’t matter much longer, of course, not with the magic pulse coming from the crystal, the unstable energy of the Etherion seeking ways to escape its prison. The moment it does, he and the tower will be gone, erased from this earth as they should be and just knowing that gives him peace.

His cursed existence won’t linger on much longer.

But that’s when he hears her voice, a whisper echoing from afar (and maybe he doesn’t so much hear as feel it):  _“But if I can fuse with the Etherion and seize control of that power… You don’t have to worry about a thing… I’ll stop it for sure…”_

It would work, he knows, it would stop the explosion and it would kill her and make her another sacrifice (but not quite like he’d intended), another victim to his crimes. And after all that’s happened just this day, and also in the last eight years, after all that she’s suffered because of him, that is the last thing he wants for her.

Those of the light should live to their fullest – they deserve the happiness of it, her most of all.

There is something he can do though, not enough to make amends, never, but at very least it will ensure her life and her happiness, because she will be rid of him once and for all. He’ll do something good at least now that the end is close, he thinks, sighing quietly as he wills the crystal to take him, to use him to stabilize itself rather than her.

That is as it should be, because even though she has the strength, the will to let go and die for the sake of her nakama, she has too many people that cherish her, that will miss her, that will cry for her and there have been enough tears spilled, enough lives lost and he’ll put a stop to it all right now.

And even so, as his last thread of consciousness, of his life, fades away and the magic breaks him apart, he can’t help the twitch of a relieved smile and one very last thought.

_‘You’ve become strong, Erza…’_

_(Then darkness comes to carry him away and Jellal embraces it wholeheartedly.)_

_— Fin —_


End file.
